About 1,000 USC students were turned away from last week’s sold-out game against UCLA at the Galen Center, as the basketball team’s popularity reached a season high.

While everyone agrees the No. 23-ranked Trojans (18-5, 7-3) are riding high, the primary reason for success could start a debate. USC is not a one-man team. It’s not even a five-man team. Six players score in double figures, but the team’s balance seems improbable.

The starters all average between 12.6 and 12.2 points per game. Point guard Julian Jacobs and power forward Nikola Jovanovic average an identical 12.3 points.

“The first three shots (someone takes), you can tell who is hot that night,” sophomore guard Elijah Stewart said. “Then we know who we should go to.”

It makes it impossible to focus on a single player to stop the Trojans’ offense. Perhaps the only irreplaceable player is Jacobs, who runs the team. USC becomes a much less effective team, as demonstrated when the Trojans blew a 22-point second-half lead against Washington after he suffered an ankle injury.

When Jacobs is healthy, though, the Trojans are formidable. And Jacobs said the difference is the way USC plays an entire game now instead of just a good stretch.

“I definitely think it’s still a process for us to say we reached our ceiling,” Jacobs said. “We couldn’t close games last season.”

What makes USC interesting is the way the roster was cobbled together. Instead of just bringing in top-ranked recruiting classes, some shrewd decisions were aided by luck and good circumstances.

Former USC coach Kevin O’Neill gets zero credit publicly, but two of his players are the bedrock of the current team: Jacobs and Jovanovic.

Jovanovic provides a physical presence as the team’s best rebounder. It is also true leading scorer Jordan McLaughlin was expected to go to USC before Enfield was hired.

Enfield aided his cause by recruiting Stewart, who signed with Loyola Marymount during his senior year at Westchester but obtained a release from his letter of intent before starting college. Enfield also added depth and scoring with transfers Katin Reinhardt and Darion Clark.

The breakthrough occurred this season when Enfield brought in forwards Bennie Boatwright and Chimezie Metu.

“We added two more freshmen (this year) who knew how to play,” Stewart said.

Boatwright is a rare forward who can shoot 3-pointers or score inside, which prevents teams from sagging inside defensively.

“With Boatwright, he’s so versatile he can space the floor for us,” Jacobs said. “We didn’t have that last year.”

Metu leads USC in blocked shots (39) and dunks (36).

“Chimezie is a freak athlete,” Jacobs said. “We’ve never had that, either.”

The team’s cohesion almost fell apart before the season even began, however, because sources said Jacobs expressed a desire to transfer after last season. Fortunately for USC, Jacobs stayed and the Trojans are on course for the NCAA Tournament.

“Towards the beginning of the season it was fun when we beat teams, but now we expect to win,” Stewart said.

This weekend could be pivotal because the Trojans remember the last time they were ranked, they were swept by the Oregon schools last month.

“We’re going to see if we learned anything from last time,” Enfield said. “We’re not really looking at where we are as a program or what was expected or not expected.”

It might be difficult to learn too much with USC visiting Arizona on Sunday. The Wildcats won 49 straight games at McKale Center before losing to Oregon two weeks ago.

“Going to Tucson, actually going to both Arizona and Arizona State are tough to play at,” Stewart said.

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